Les 7 jours du talion

"Does knowing your wife's murderer is behind bars make life any more bearable?"

"7 Days" is a powerful and brutal film about a happily married surgeon who as a result of the rape and murder of his daughter falls into a dark obsession with revenge. WARNING: this movie is VERY graphic and not for the easily offended or people with a weak stomach. "7 Days" deals with a very difficult subject matter and does not hold back.

Claude Legault (Bruno) and Rémy Girard (Hervé) did an incredible job with the acting. Fanny Mallette (Sylvia) also did wonderfully, though I would have liked to have seen more of her throughout the movie. I found myself wondering why the director did not feature more of the mother's struggle. There is one scene in particular that showcases the raw talent Legault and Mallette have. It was a tour de force of brilliant acting.

However, the movie is not without it's faults. One of the more interesting decisions made by the director was to not include a musical soundtrack. This worked I think in favor of the atmosphere but there could have been some fill in music at times. It seemed like the director was trying to fill holes in the story a bit too hard. There were a couple of things that didn't make much sense to do and the ending left a little to be desired.

"7 Days" may not be the cream of the crop of revenge flicks, but it does succeed where others fail. It is such a harrowing subject matter and is shot in such a realistic way that you are forced to have an emotional response, whether you like it or not. There are some powerful visuals that will stay with you for days, possibly months after.

Director Daniel Grou shows that he has much promise. First, a film without music is rare, and in this case was perfect. Secondly, the action, while graphic, moves smoothly. It is a story, a film, that you will remember seeing.

The film begins with an unforgivable crime—the rape and murder of a 8- year-old girl by a convicted sex offender. Her father, a wealthy surgeon (Claude Legault), chains the alleged killer in a secluded dungeon, savoring his captive's (Rémy Girard) slow torture.

The doctor, dismissing all he previously stood for, is torn by guilt as he proceeds. It is an excellent chance to reflect on the desirability of revenge. His last statement really drove that home.

This movie is a very intense psychological thriller filmed in very grey and depressive images and words that create a perfect atmosphere for this doom slow paced movie. The movie seems to be a simple vengeance story, but it goes far beyond this. Let me warn you first: There are not many torture scenes in this movie, so if you expect some gore stuff here, you may not be satisfied at all in the end. The title and trailer could be somehow misleading.

The film has in fact a very philosophical touch and questions about the sense of life and death as well as vengeance or forgiveness. The movie shows how difficult such topics are and has almost some documentary influences as it shows the reactions of the society, the police, the victim's families. But there are also metaphoric elements in this movie like the scenes with the dead deer body that represents the dead body of the raped and killed daughter that lead us slowly towards a melancholic end that many find unsatisfying but which fits perfectly to the whole atmosphere and intention of the movie. The story is surprisingly realistic. All those points I really like about this great Quebecker movie.

What I rather dislike is that there is something like a highlight missing. When the father has kidnapped the murderer of his daughter and the police is looking for him, you expect that the tension and action raises, that each character's profoundness may be developed and that there are some disturbing twists but nothing happens at all. The movie concentrates on the profoundness of the main character but I think that the characters of the murderer, the police officer or the kidnapper's wife could have been more developed. The movie also concentrates too much on the logical follow-up of the story and the tension goes really down at some point in the movie as there are no real surprises or turning points like in the heavier and more disturbing shocker "5150 on Elm Street", a movie based on the novel by the same author as this one. This movie's strength is its depressive atmosphere and the main actor's brilliant acting but it has too much of a one man show.

If you are looking for an alternative depressive psycho thriller with some philosophical elements, I highly recommend this movie for you. But if you are looking for a bloody shocker with a twisted ending, just forget about it.

I really liked this movie and am sad to say that I do not want to watch it again. The subject matter is very disturbing and not something you really want to go through more than once. The movie was very well done and realistic. While watching it you will go through a whole case of emotions, from anger, distraught, disgust to the feeling of love a father has for his daughter.

Amazingly acted and directed, this movie was done in a perfect, raw, way to help you feel what the father is going through.

I really can't understand how some reviewers did not see a point in this movie. I would spell it out for them, but do not want to spoil the experience for anyone reading this review. There is a point to this movie and it's really simple.

I love the fact that this movie did not have the usual twists and surprises that have become so prevalent with Hollywood thrillers. Seems like a lot of plots now a days rely too heavily on the surprise twist and "I did not see that coming" response from the movie goer rather than emotion.

This movie hits you like a tonne of bricks and keeps you on the edge until the very end.

WELL DONE !!!

When police arrest a man for the rape and murder of Dr. Bruno Hamel's 8-year old daughter, the distraught father (a strong performance from Claude Legault) seeks revenge, kidnapping the suspect and subjecting him to a week of unimaginable suffering while the police desperately attempt to track them down.

Revenge is sweet, as the saying goes, but 7 Days challenges this notion: after inflicting untold pain and suffering on his victim, Bruno doesn't feel any better—he is just as empty inside, his grief no less severe than before, his anger unabated. The film questions whether, despite our understandable wish to severely punish the human garbage who commit such evil crimes, revenge might not be the wisest route to take.

Superb performances, tight direction from Daniel Grou, and some truly disturbing imagery make this film hard to ignore, but it is its highly debatable central theme—to torture or not to torture— that makes 7 Days a more powerful viewing experience than many of the 'torture' films that we've had to endure post-Saw.